Old New Year

On the night to Jan 14 we have the celebration Old New Year in Russia.

How New Year can be old? It’s simple if you are in Russia.

The trick is that before 1918 in Russia we had Gregorian calendar, which differ from Julian calendar. It shifted by two weeks.

Jan 1 of Julian calendar is Jan 14 by Gregorian.

I like unification, and I proud that we made this, that we haven’t chosen to create mess with different standards like with miles and kilometers. liters and pints.

But some people didn’t like that shift at that time, and they continued to celebrate New Year by Gregorian calendar.

It was called New Year by Old style, or Old New Year for brevity.

Since we like any motif for celebration people started to love additional New Year, and it become to be our tradition.

How we celebrate it? Well, it’s kind of the same New Year, but light version.
Holidays are almost over, and we are getting ready to get back our duties.
So Old New Year is kind of final point in that holiday’s journey.

Despite all that it is still “unofficial” holiday, and I have no idea why.

If something widely common, and exists for 100 years, in my opinion it’s time to admit it officially, even if it’s strange.

Post navigation

2 comments

We have a series of festivals from Jan 13 to Jan 16. On Jan 13 we call it “Bhogi” where we make a bonfire to burn all the agricultural wastes in it. That practice implies we leave all the old pessimistic thoughts behind and adapts new and optimistic thoughts in our mind.

But as usual, the current generation forget the real motive and only remember burning wastes. This time in my capital city, They made a huge mess in the air by burning a lot of wastes, plastics, etc.

On the day Jan 14, we leave winter behind and enters into a new season. This festival is dedicated to farmers.

On the night of Jan 14 we celebrate have the celebration Old New Year in Russia.

How can the New Year can be old? It’s simple if you are in Russia.

The trick is that before 1918 in Russia we used thehad Gregorian calendar, which differs from the Julian calendar. It is shifted by two weeks.

Jan 1 of the Julian calendar is Jan 14 by the Gregorian calendar.

I like unification (standardization?), and I am proud that we made this change, that we haven’t chosen to create a mess with different standards like with miles,and kilometers, liters, and pints.

But some people didn’t like that shift at that time, and they continued to celebrate New Year by the Gregorian calendar.

It was called New Year by Old style, or Old New Year for brevity.

Since we like any reason(motivation)motif for celebration, people started to love the traditionaladditional New Year, and it has become to be our new tradition.

How do we celebrate it? Well, it’s kind of the same New Year, but a lighter version.When the holidays are almost over, and we are getting ready to get back our duties, celebrating theSo Old New Year is kind of the final point in that holiday’s journey.

Despite all that, it is still an “unofficial” holiday, and I have no idea why.

If something is widely common and exists for 100 years, in my opinion it’s time to admit it officially, even if it’s strange.